The house system is a traditional feature of schools in England. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to one house at the moment of enrolment. Houses may compete with one another at sports and maybe in other ways, thus providing a focus for group loyalty.

In modern times, in both day and boarding schools, the word house may refer only to a grouping of pupils, rather than to a particular building.